Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
by Crazyeight
Summary: While studying, Takato asks Rika what she's going as for Halloween. With no real idea or preference, Rika opts for something a little...unconventional.


Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

A Digimon Tamers fic by: Crazyeight

"What are you going as for Halloween tonight?"

Rika looked up from her notes at her friend sitting across from her. At thirteen, Takato Matsuki hadn't changed much. His face was slightly more angular than when she knew first met him almost two years ago, and his shoulders had started to become broader. Puberty was beginning for him, but he more or less remained the same with his roundish head – indicating that he took after his mother more than his father – and thin frame. She furrowed her brow slightly at him, her expression questioning.

"What do you mean?" she asked, causing the boy to raise an eyebrow.

"Um… Shouldn't that be my question now?" he asked. "You went with us last year, didn't you? Aren't you going with us again?"

Rika glanced away in memory of her first night of Trick-or-Treating since she had been a little girl, going from house to house with her father before he left her life. She had felt…awkward to say the least. Going Trick-or-Treating in the first place had been bad enough as it was, as she put it, _immature,_ but the fact that Jeri convinced her to go as an undead ghoul and made use of her mother's makeup to give her the appropriate appearance made things even worse.

 _Never mind that the makeup itched the whole night,_ she thought, remembering how she wound up ruining Jeri's hard work on her face from all the scratching she did. By the time she got home, she looked as though she had gone after her face with a rake.

Although the horrified scream from her mother upon seeing the mess, she admitted, had been worth it in her estimation, she found that she wasn't sure if she wanted to go through it again.

"I don't think so," Rika shrugged, returning her attention to her notes as a large, crimson dinosaur entered the room, munching on a loaf of bread and gazing outdoors.

"Doesn't think what?" the dinosaur asked between mouthfuls. Rika glanced at him idly as he approached Takato and the boy brought a hand up to scratch him behind his wing-like ears. She furrowed her brow slightly, making a note that the lizard had been abnormally quiet all afternoon.

"It's nothing boy," he said to the large reptile, a digital life form known as Guilmon. Rika _harrumphed_ at his answer.

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't look so disappointed," she pointed out.

"Sorry," Takato winced, rubbing the back of his head. "It's just… I was kind of looking forward to seeing what you came up with this year and hanging out with us. I thought you were having fun since you were smiling a lot." As if to provide an example, he allowed his lips to curve upward. "You usually don't do that sort of thing unless you're _really_ happy."

Rika's pen paused in its notetaking and she looked up at the boy. _Now_ she allowed a small smile to touch her features.

"Being with you does make me happy," she said, and she meant it. While she could hardly be called the most social person in the world – and indeed, she tended to prefer solitude to the company of people – her friends were among her most cherished possessions. Her smile soon slipped away as she returned her attention to her schoolwork. "But…I don't know. The whole thing is just immature to me and we're in the seventh grade now, so I…guess I just feel that we can't really be acting like kids anymore. I'm not going to get on anyone's case for having a little fun though. If that's what you want to do, fine. But I still think it's kind of stupid at our age."

Looking back up at Takato, she suddenly scowled.

"Just _don't_ be getting fat on me or anything. You know that candy is bad for you, and you need to be in top shape to be a Tamer. Just because Guilmon can get away with eating tons of bread everyday doesn't mean you should try to imitate him."

"I don't eat tons of bread every day," Guilmon moaned, his ears wilting a little as he nibbled on his bread. "But I have a lot of dreams that I do, and they always end with me waking up hungry."

Takato couldn't help but chuckle a little at Rika's admonishment, remembering how she had taken a peculiar attentiveness on his physical fitness and general appearance over the last few months. The mustache that he attempted to grow over the summer especially had been a point of contention and, surprisingly, got her into an argument with Jeri of all people, who thought it made him handsome, distinguished and manly-looking.

Rika's stance on the fuzzy caterpillar seated above his lips had been adamant, not to mention the exact opposite and as a result somehow Takato found himself taking up shaving as part of his morning habits, much to Jeri's disappointment.

 _I really don't understand girls at all,_ he thought with quiet amusement.

"I think I don't have anything to worry about with you on the job," he replied with a grin. "Maybe you should go as a drill instructor. You make a pretty good one after all. Between your card drills and helping me and Jeri with exam preparation, we've really come a long way."

Rika rolled her eyes, but her own grin played along the corners of her lips.

"That wouldn't count, Gogglehead. I'd just be going as myself. You need an _actual_ costume for Halloween. Besides, _if_ I wanted to go, I wouldn't dress up as a drill instructor."

"So, what would you go as then?" Takato asked, his crimson eyes dancing with amusement before narrowing in concentration. "Man, it'd be hard finding the right costume for you. Sometimes I think shrine maiden…"

 _"Shrine maiden!"_ Rika exploded, all thoughts of her studies vanishing in one fell swoop. "Are you _kidding_ me?! You're _not_ getting me into one of those ridiculous outfits, Gogglehead!"

"Whoa! Hey, calm down!" Takato placated as his eyebrows shot up in alarm at her outburst, waving his hands in front of him protectively. "It was just something I thought of because of Taomon and Sakuyamon. I thought you didn't have a problem with those forms."

Rika gave a frustrated groan as she thought to the two digimon forms that her partner, Renamon took – the one labeled Sakuyamon especially. "Those are…different because they're something me and Renamon brought out together. Just because I like Renamon's digivolutions doesn't mean that I'm going to be okay with wearing that kind of stuff for a dress-up holiday."

"Oh… Okay," Takato said, relaxing a little now. "Guess I've got to start back at square one, huh?"

Rika fixed the boy with a hard gaze.

"You know, if you spent half as much time studying as you do trying to imagine what I'd dress up as for a goofy holiday, your grades would probably be better."

"That would be a lot easier if you gave me an idea or something to go off of," Takato replied, a bit put out.

"Why's it matter to you what I'd dress up as anyway?" Rika asked. "You're not in love with me, are you, _Loverboy?"_

The use of the nickname invoked the memory of their third – and decidedly more peaceful – encounter from two years ago, where her animosity materialized as playful teasing, causing a light blush to illuminate Takato's cheeks. Rubbing the back of his head, he barked an embarrassed laugh.

"I-It's not like that! I just… I don't know. You're kind of a mystery sometimes, so it's hard to know what's going on in your mind. I guess sometimes you make my imagination run wild because I'm trying to figure you out still. You're an amazing person, you know that?"

Looking up, he beamed at the fire-haired girl, whose face was now splashed with a red blush of her own, causing the girl to glance away, her hard gaze only growing harder. Finding herself fidgeting with her pen, she quickly stilled it.

 _Does he even realize how he sounds when he says stuff like that?_ she wondered in utter amazement at how dense the boy she called her best human friend for the last two years could be.

Of course, he didn't. For as long as she knew him, Takato could only be described as enormously dense and unfailingly honest. The honesty part she liked best about him. She liked knowing what he _really_ thought about her, as opposed to a lot of other people she knew, like her classmates, who would sometimes make nice and present a false smile. However, his dense nature tended to cause problems because it gave people the wrong impression about him and what he meant.

Or rather, it gave _her_ the wrong impression, or what she _thought_ was the wrong impression. With Takato, it was difficult to be sure because he was so sincere. Going to card game tournaments and the occasional convention tended to turn a number of eyes in her direction; people who wanted to get to know her for one reason or another, some of which involved love confessions, which only grew in number as she entered puberty.

It amazed her how often Takato could say something that sounded like a love confession and be referring to something else completely.

Still, she had learned to cope over time and even decode Takato to a degree – an easy task at times since he wore his heart on his sleeve. One of the ways she got by was to go with the flow, and sometimes…play with him to see what his reaction would be.

Quite often, she found, his reactions tended toward an odd… _cuteness_ that she found she enjoyed seeing. As a result, she made an effort to pull that cuteness out of him when the opportunity arose.

"Well, thank you for stating the obvious," she said with a smirk. Closing up her notebook, she decided now was as good a time as any to take a break.

Since it looked obvious that this wouldn't leave Takato alone, she decided it was best to simply help him get it out of his system.

 _I make your imagination run wild, huh?_ she thought, a cat-like smirk crossing her features. _Oh, I'll make it run wild all right._

Guilmon, who had been quietly watching the exchange between the two friends, suddenly felt a sense of dread upon seeing her smile.

"Takato? Rika has that smile again."

"Ah…" Takato's mouth twitched as he saw it too, quickly recognizing it for what it was. "Did I do something wrong, Rika?"

"Oh, no," she said, glancing at the yellow-rimmed goggles sitting next to his notes – the source of her most common nickname for him. Gogglehead.

Reaching over, she took up his goggles and looked at them for a moment before looking back at Takato.

"Maybe I should try being a Gogglehead this year."

Takato blinked at that, having clearly not expected it.

"Ah… Huh?" came the intelligent reply. "I thought…I thought you were mad at me or something."

Still smirking mischievously, Rika climbed to her feet, so she was now towering over the boy. The shadows framed her face just right, giving her a rather sinister complexion. Takato felt a slight chill run through him at the sight.

"Why would I be mad at you?" she asked in a playful tone, her violet eyes shining in the dark. Lifting the goggles, she strapped them to her head. They felt awkward, pressing against her skin, butting up against the hilt of her ponytail. Her cheeks warming slightly, she glanced to the side where a small mirror – a gift from her mother from some years ago – sat, reflecting her image. There, perched beneath her bangs, were the ugly yellow goggles.

"Ugh," was all she found herself saying. They made her look exactly as hideous as she thought they would.

"You know," began Takato, his face suddenly going beat red. "I wasn't sure at first, but…those look pretty good on you."

"Uh, huh!" Guilmon nodded exuberantly, but taking care not to say too much. The scene before him was just so… _unique!_ He didn't dare interrupt it for fear of losing it too quickly or risking the girl's anger.

Planting her hands on her hips, Rika shook her head, trying to ignore the growing blush on her own face.

"Takato, I make _anything_ look good. But… I don't know. How do you even _wear_ these things? Do you have _any_ idea how goofy they make you look?"

"I guess I just got used to them," Takato said with a light laugh, climbing to his feet to join the girl. "Besides, I thought that was part of my charm."

"Your charm involves tripping over your own shadow," Rika _harrumphed,_ turning to face him. "That shouldn't be too hard for me to copy. All I need is a foot to put in my mouth and that'll be that."

"Not quite," Takato chuckled, a bit embarrassed at Rika's appraisal of his antics. "You still need to look a bit more like me. You kind of…kind of…" He paused and glanced at Rika's ponytail and pointed at his own hair indicatively. Rika lifted an eyebrow. He was…actually taking this seriously?

She thought about it for a second, wondering how much further she should go with this joke of hers.

"What are _you_ going as?" she asked after a further moment of thought, wanting to test the waters before doing anything else. Blinking again, Takato looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"Um… Well, I had been working on a Gallantmon costume…but…uh…"

"I accidently broke it while Takato was at school," Guilmon confessed, his ears wilting. Rika looked at the dinosaur before looking at Takato, a bit surprised at that, and saddened upon seeing the disappointed looks on their faces.

 _I wondered why Dinoboy's been so quiet today…_

"Too bad," Rika said, lifting a hand and bringing it to rest on Takato's forearm. "Would have been interesting." Her smirk drew across her face again. "I would have been _your_ Tamer in that case."

Looking down at where Rika's hand lay and then up at the girl again, the crimson in his face grew in intensity.

 _Cute…_ Rika thought before turning a baleful look at Guilmon, who suddenly shrunk away from her.

 _"Bad_ Dinoboy," she scolded.

"Hey! Takatomon…!"

"C-Come on, Rika," Takato stammered out, fighting past his blush to rescue his partner. "It's not _all_ bad. I mean, it wasn't that great a costume anyway, and it's not like I can't go as something else. I mean, I could be anything. Kind of like how you're going as me, I could go as you…"

"Go as me?" Rika scoffed in disbelief. "Takato, I don't think I have any clothes that will _fit_ you!"

"Well, yeah, but I can go get other clothes for…wait! You'd let me wear _your_ clothes as a Halloween costume?"

A pall of awkward silence fell between the two teens and Rika found her fingers digging into Takato's forearm as they both blushed horribly as the implications of her words sunk in.

"Well…" Rika began, breaking the quiet. "There's the foot going into the mouth thing. Great. Your goggles are infecting my brain."

Takato gave a dry chuckle at that as he lifted a hand and brought it over Rika's gently, one thumb caressing her smooth skin in a comforting manner. In the two years since they became friends, Rika had steadily taught him what sort of things she was comfortable with when it came to open displays of friendship. It had been awkward at first. The moment in the tunnel where she accidently made it all right for him to compliment her new shirt had been something of a game changer between them. It hadn't been all at once, but slowly, ever so slowly, little things began to creep in. A hug here, a hand on a shoulder there… Rika shuddered slightly under his touch and feeling it, Takato drew his hand away, his eyes full of concern.

"Too weird?"

"Huh?" Rika blinked in surprise, and then shook her head, the heat in her face growing. "N-No," she said, glancing away. "Why would it be?"

Takato's hand rejoined hers, though carefully, and for the first time, a thought occurred to her, or rather a feeling. It was at once, alien and foreign; a touch frightening even, but at the same time, it reminded her a little of the feeling she got when she and her digimon partner, Renamon, merged together for the first time into Sakuyamon. Their eyes met, and for a wonder, the two of them held each other's gaze.

"So…" she began carefully. "You were saying something about how I had one more thing I needed to look more like you?"

"Well, besides…um…" He coughed, smiling nervously. "…besides a shirt that looks like mine, um…yeah. Your…ah…your hair."

"Hmmm…" Rika hummed over the thought for a moment before finally shrugging in resignation, smiling slightly. The whole thing was bizarre, but…she couldn't help but admit she was having fun with Takato's reactions. She hated the word _cute,_ especially when applying it to someone like Takato, but it fit him surprisingly well. Wanting to see a little bit more, she reached up and undid her ponytail, and it fell down to her shoulders in one smooth cascade of fire. Shifting, she looked back at the boy, smiling at his surprised, stunned face.

"Help me out here," she said, running a hand through the strands that fell over her eye. "It needs to be a bit messier, like yours, right?"

"Ah…"

His goggles flashed atop her head as she turned her catlike smile at him, doing her best to ignore the frantic hammering of her heart, and the frustration that rose up defensively, attempting to head it off.

"Takato," she said, narrowing her eyes. "You're catching flies with your mouth hanging open like that."

"R-Right. Sorry."

His hands rose again and threaded themselves into Rika's hair. Surprising herself, Rika sighed in appreciation. He was a bit clumsy, but not rough. It felt surprisingly good in fact.

"Man, I don't know if I can make it messy like my hair," Takato said with a note of bemusement in his voice as he ruffled the strands. "It just…kind of wants to stay straight."

"I believe it," Rika chuckled. "My hair's probably as stubborn as me. I've never had bedhead for as long as I can remember."

"Man, what I would give to have that. Just trying to comb my hair is about as bad as a digimon fight, only with less damage."

"I know. I've seen you fight it. But you know…I…don't mind that part about you."

From the mirror, she could see Takato smile softly.

"Thanks…Rika. Although…if I thought I might going to dress up like you like you are with me, I probably should have considered letting my hair grow out for the ponytail."

Rika's imagination lit up at that, and she considered the mental image of Takato with long, wavy hair reaching all the way down to his shoulders like hers. She quickly shook her head.

"I don't think so," she said. "You're fine the way you are, Gogglehead. You don't need to do anything weird like that."

"You really must like the way he looks now, huh?" Guilmon observed, causing Rika to shoot the dinosaur a sharp glare while Takato gave a light, embarrassed laugh.

"Just _try_ to make me angry, Guilmon," she warned.

"How about we not do anything drastic, okay?" Takato added, withdrawing his hands from the depths of Rika's hair, much to the girl's disappointment, surprising herself yet again. "Come on, Rika. You know he doesn't mean anything by…oh!"

At Takato's cry of surprise, Rika felt a small sting as one of her hairs was plucked loose. Turning, she saw a strand hanging off the boy's finger as he began to tug it off. He wore a slight frown on his face as he pulled, yet for some reason the hair held tight. She watched, a touch of annoyance flashing in her heart before vanishing into the depths of her heart.

 _A string of red attached to a finger…_ she thought, her expression deadpan at the sight, feeling as though she were the butt of some joke. _You've got to be kidding me._

Yet, that feeling from earlier, that feeling of warmth, returned.

"Oooh… Takatomon, you have a red string of fate attached to you," Guilmon said, poking at the strand of hair with one claw while the boy in question finally managed to disentangle it from his finger, only for it to inexplicably stay stuck to him. Guilmon smiled at it. "And it's so pretty too…"

"Um…" He looked at Rika with a helpless smile, who promptly decided to ignore Guilmon's ridiculous remark. "It…doesn't look like it wants to let go of me."

Still, Rika couldn't help but want to mess with Takato a little bit more.

"Probably because I wouldn't let go of you either," she said with a playful smirk, taking the strand of hair from him with ease and tossing it to the side. Blood once again rushed to Takato's face, and just like that, that warm feeling in her heart from earlier returned, a touch stronger than before, and she glanced away, fists clenching together.

 _Just…what is going on?_ she wondered. More and more she realized now, especially this past year, it felt like there was something growing in the air between her and Takato.

Or perhaps she was taking the 'red string' a little too seriously?

 _This whole thing is stupid,_ she thought. Taking a deep breath, she looked at herself in the mirror. The hideous, ridiculous goggles still perched on her hair. This whole 'game' was stupid, yet…she _was_ having fun. And now, here she sat, feeling as though the universe was trying to play a trick on her. She hated that. She hated feeling like she had no choice in the matter. It made her want to put a stop to the whole thing.

And yet…when she looked at Takato's flustered face in the mirror, her heart paused in its frustration and her fists loosened slightly.

 _I don't…want to quit just yet,_ she thought, unclenching her fists. She made her own destiny, and she wouldn't let the 'stupid universe' dictate anything she did.

Folding her arms over her chest, she forced her cat-like smile onto her face and returned her attention to her blushing Gogglehead.

"So what else do I need to finish the look?" she asked.

 **###**

"Trick or Treat!" Terriermon crowed as he and Henry stepped into the yard of Rika's home, the long-eared, rabbit-dog digimon swinging a plastic pumpkin pale in one, long, appendage-like ear as he sat on his partner's shoulder. Stepping out onto the porch, a woman in her late 40's appeared, having heard the digimon's loud exclamation.

"Good afternoon, Henry," Seiko Hata smiled. "Such an…unusual costume you have there."

Blushing lightly, Henry rubbed the back of his head. He wore a bird-like outfit, a puffy, feathery affair with a beak strapped to his face while his partner wore what was more obviously a pirate getup, complete with an eyepatch, a black hat with a skull and crossbones emblazoned on its surface, and a little plastic hook attached to one paw and an ear.

"It…wasn't my idea, believe me," he said in embarrassment.

"He's the parrot and I'm the pirate! That's what you get for losing a bet!" Terriermon giggled, hopping off his partner's shoulder. "Arrr…! I'll have me some candy and the whereabouts of Takatomon and Rika! If I don't get them, I'll give this place a taste of my broadsword!"

There came the sound of a flute playing upon the air, and at once a golden-furred fox with purple armguards materialized out of thin air, azure eyes gazing at the diminutive, cream-furred rabbit with amusement. Taken aback by her sudden and unexpected appearance, Terriermon gulped and took a step backward.

"Oh, hi Renamon! You know I was just kidding, right?"

"Of course," the vulpine digimon said, folding her arms together. "I merely reacted at the 'trick' part of the greeting."

"You really need to momentai, Renamon," Terriermon _harrumphed_ while Seiko gave a light laugh at the antics of the two digimon. "Now where are Takato, Rika and Guilmon? We were supposed to pick Takato and Guilmon up for Trick or Treating and you and Rika if she wanted to tag along."

"They're around," Renamon nodded. "I believe Rika's helping Takato put the finishing touches on his costume now."

"She's _helping_ Takato?" Terriermon raised an eyebrow at that. "Will wonders never cease. All right, lead us to them and we'll be off on this voyage of plunder! Yarrr!"

Motioning for them to follow after her, the kitsune started off. As they approached Rika's room, Henry looked at Renamon questioningly.

"Are you coming with us?" he asked curiously.

"Of course. It would appear that Rika has decided to join you again this year." Her azure eyes shining, a small, barely perceptible smile touched her muzzle. "I'll be going as a ninja."

"Didn't you do that one last year?" Terriermon asked, hopping up onto the porch and taking hold of the door to Rika's room. "At least show a little originality and…"

The door slid open, and Terriermon found himself utterly speechless. Before him, stood Rika wearing what was decidedly Takato's hoodie and goggles while Takato, in the white t-shirt he wore under it, had the beginnings of a full heart being drawn on it by a marker held in the very same girl's hand. A half attempt at a ponytail graced Takato's hair, but utterly failed to capture the pineapple one that was Rika's usual trademark.

Henry, also taken aback by the scene before them, made a note that Rika's hair was down, and the two were now blushing _furiously_ at being 'caught.'

 _Oookay… Do I even_ want _to know?_

"Okay…" Terriermon began, having taken a moment to collect himself. "I've got to admit, _that's_ pretty scary you two. Not to mention messed up. And I thought _Kazu's_ costume was weird."

"Get… _out!"_ Rika exclaimed as she charged forward, causing Terriermon to hop away. The door slammed shut, and seconds later, on the other side, they could hear Rika's continued, unbroken chain of angry exclamations and threats of violence toward Terriermon while Takato attempted to calm her down. Henry looked down at his partner and sighed.

"Terriermon… You could have knocked first."

"And missed _that?_ Henry, did a Parasimon eat your brain all of a sudden?"

With a groan, Henry palmed his face while behind the doors, Rika's voice rose up an octave.

 _So much for a happy Halloween…_ he thought in despair before giving a dry chuckle.

 **###**

A/N: So I got this idea pretty late on Halloween and wasn't able to get more than halfway done with it before needing to turn in. A bit of an oddball fic, but happy belated Halloween. :P

8


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